m-power: The Modern CIO s Trump Card How m-power addresses many of the strategic challenges facing current CIOs

Transcription

1 m-power: The Modern CIO s Trump Card How m-power addresses many of the strategic challenges facing current CIOs

2 Intro Perhaps no C-level position has undergone such enormous change in the last ten years as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) position. According to the 2015 State of the CIO 1 report, 91% of IT leaders feel the CIO role is becoming increasingly more challenging. These days, modern CIOs face pressure from every side. For instance: CEOs and business executives now demand more business value from the IT department. The CIO must drive business innovation while managing and improving existing technology. Tech-savvy end users now bring personal devices and consumer applications into the workplace. The CIO must deliver the tools and applications the users require while managing and securing the company s data. Technology evolves at a quickening pace and the expectations placed on the IT department are at an all-time high. While the business demands modern solutions, hiring IT professionals with modern skills often falls outside of the budget. How can CIOs address these issues? In this paper, you ll learn how the web application development platform, m-power, will help modern CIOs address some of the most common challenges they face today. You ll learn how m-power will help CIOs: Balance agility with stability Break free from technical debt Give end users self-service options Provide a single experience across multiple platforms Balance data accessibility with security Bridge the skills gap Capitalize on expanding data Break out of the 80/20 spending trap Future-proof their architecture Before we learn how, let s quickly explain m-power, and web application development platforms in general. What is a web application development platform? A web application development platform is far more than a simple code generator or IDE. It is software that CIOs build their entire application strategy around. While development platforms do improve development speed, they also solve many strategic tech problems facing CIOs today. m-power is the one platform CIOs need for cloud, on-premise, and mobile application development over any database. In this short paper, you ll learn why modern CIOs rely so heavily on m-power, and how it solves each of the strategic issues listed above. Page 1

3 1. Balance agility with stability For many years, CIOs have focused their efforts on stability. They kept the business technology running smoothly. Now, business leaders also demand agility from their CIOs. Not only must IT departments keep the business running, they must deliver business solutions quickly. Gartner recently introduced a new model for enterprise IT that addresses this growing need, called Bimodal IT. According to Gartner s definition 2 : Bimodal IT refers to having two modes of IT, each designed to develop and deliver information and technology-intensive services in its own way. Mode 1 is traditional, emphasizing scalability, efficiency, safety and accuracy. Mode 2 is non-sequential, emphasizing agility and speed. The question is: How can modern CIOs combine these two concepts? How can they deliver solutions quickly while maintaining business stability? m-power automates much of the web (and mobile web) application development process, helping IT departments deliver solutions up to 80% faster. It improves overall IT speed in three important ways: 1. Eliminates coding: Using a point-and-click interface, m-power lets developers create web applications without writing a single line of code. 2. Reduces testing: m-power employs a template-driven build process, which automates many of the time-consuming development tasks. Templates are pre-tested eliminating all of the program logic testing normally required when building new systems--and include the application s layout, architecture, and features. 3. Simplifies Maintenance: m-power lets developers easily maintain and enhance their applications. Developers can either update their applications through m-power, or customize the underlying application code itself. Page 2

4 2. Break free from technical debt Many CIOs face a similar problem: Their business runs on a hodgepodge of applications that they can t replace. These applications are so heavily modified and intertwined, they re hard to maintain. Changing one area might very well impact many others. Since maintaining these applications is so difficult and time consuming, it slows the business down. IT can t move quickly, and they can t adapt to changing technology. m-power offers two solutions to legacy systems. First, it lets CIOs easily replace their outdated applications with modern web (and mobile web) apps. But, what if your company can t replace your existing applications? What if you re locked into a legacy system? m-power also builds web applications over existing enterprise software. The best part: It doesn t add a new piece of software or a new layer of complexity to the existing system. Rather, it integrates open standards and new features with the technology the business already uses. In short, m-power makes existing software better, while providing two very important benefits: Integrates with the existing system: m-power applications are not proprietary, third-party software. They re open web apps that integrate modern features and capabilities directly into the current enterprise system. Leaves the existing system unchanged: m-power surrounds existing systems with new features and capabilities, without altering the underlying system itself. This lets companies take system upgrades without breaking or rebuilding any of the applications. Page 3

5 3. Give end users self-service options In the past, the IT department controlled technology because it was scarce, and difficult for business users to obtain and use. Those days are gone. With the rise of consumer software and devices, end users now have alternatives. If IT departments do not meet the user s needs, end users bypass IT altogether, opting for readily available third-party, Software as a Service (SaaS) options. These days, CIOs must deliver solutions the business users need, or risk being bypassed. It s no small challenge: IT Departments must not only give the business users the self-service options they require, they must also maintain control over the company data and systems. m-power gives CIOs a company-wide application development and management platform. It lets the IT department control the data, rights, and user access. At the same time, it gives end users a simple, point-and-click interface to create all of the applications they need, like reporting, BI, data retrieval, process work flows, mobile apps, and custom apps in general. m-power gives each side what they need: Business users create the applications they need without bypassing the IT department, while IT ultimately controls data and user access. Page 4

6 4. Provide a single experience across multiple platforms The web has moved beyond the confines of the PC. Employees and customers use an ever-growing array of devices. When a prospect/customer visits your website, you can t control which device they ll use. Modern websites and web applications must account for this new reality. They must deliver the same experience across all platforms. How can CIOs not only mobilize existing applications, but also develop a cross-platform mobile strategy for all new application development going forward? m-power builds applications that automatically adapt to any device (PC/Tablet/Smartphone). As illustrated on the right, m-power automatically builds applications with multiple presentation layers: One for PCs, one for tablets, and one for smartphones. Logic placed within the application automatically queries the user s device and displays the appropriate layer. While this approach offers CIOs the tremendous advantage of automatic mobile app creation, it also delivers another key benefit. Since m-power develops mobile web apps, they instantly work across all platforms and operating systems. There s no need to develop separate apps for different platforms one mobile web app works everywhere. Page 5

7 5. Balance data accessibility with security In the past, data was stored in-house, and locked down. IT controlled data access. These days, that s changing. Employeeowned mobile devices have infiltrated the workplace. We ve entered a mobile world, where employees expect data access from anywhere, on any device. But, granting unlimited data access to every employee is a security nightmare. How can CIOs secure their data while delivering the accessibility required by a mobile workforce? m-power lets the IT department lock down the company data, while controlling device and user access. m-power creates mobile web apps that employees can access from any device, while maintaining full control over the company s data. With mobile web applications, users access data using their own devices, without storing any data on the device itself. Since mobile web apps don t store data on the device itself, a lost/stolen phone doesn t present a security risk. The company s data resides securely on the server, under the IT department s control. m-power provides both accessibility and security: Employees use their own devices, while the company controls the data. Page 6

8 6. Bridge the skills gap A recent study 3 finds that a whopping 93% of businesses indicate there is an IT skills gap a substantial shortfall between the supply of qualified IT professionals and the demand for modern IT skills. As technology evolves at breakneck speed, this IT skills gap is widening. Businesses are having more and more trouble finding IT pros with the modern skills they require and the problem is only growing worse. Modern CIOs must address this skills gap while staying current with the ever-changing tech trends. After all, your business won t stop and wait while you fix the skills gap. The competition won t take a timeout while you search for modern skills. You must bridge the IT skills gap while operating at full speed. How can companies deal with the shortage of qualified IT pros and developers? Outside of outsourcing everything or bringing in high-priced consultants, how can your company bridge this growing skills gap while remaining competitive? m-power helps CIOs bridge the skills gap in a unique way: It brings modern skills to their existing staff. m-power s simple, point-and-click interface lets users build well-architected, secure, cloud-ready, and mobile-ready web applications without any knowledge of modern web application development. For the CIO, this helps in two important ways: 1. No need to constantly train developers: With the constant evolution of development standards and programming paradigms, developers could feasibly spend half of their time learning new skills. m-power brings modern skills to these developers, letting them instead focus on solving business problems. 2. No need to teach new employees about the business: Bringing in new employees with modern skills (temporarily) solves the skills gap, but creates a new issue: These new employees must now learn the business. Getting a new employee up and running often takes months. On the other hand, m-power brings modern skills to employees who already understand the business, completely eliminating the issue. Page 7

9 7. Capitalize on data Businesses generate (and have access to) more data than ever before. But, is all of this data helping? According to Reuters Dying for Business report, One-third of managers are victims of Information Fatigue Syndrome. 49% said they are unable to handle the vast amounts of information received. 43% think that important decisions are delayed and their abilities to make decisions are affected as a result of having too much information. Modern CIOs face a daunting challenge: How can they capitalize on their data? CIOs must make their ever-expanding data easily accessible to decision-makers and end users. How can IT departments turn their data into real-time, meaningful management information? m-power comes pre-loaded with a variety of reporting, BI, and dashboard templates. Using its simple, point-and-click interface, m-power lets businesses build all types of BI applications in minutes, such as: - Interactive reports - Web pivot tables - Ranking reports - User-defined dashboards - And more! With m-power, IT departments have the solution they need to capitalize on their data, enable self-service reporting, and report over multiple data sources. Page 8

10 8. Break out of the 80/20 spending trap According to InformationWeek 4, CIOs can no longer afford to spend 70% to 80% of their precious funds supporting and maintaining existing systems. They must shift, permanently, a big chunk of their budgets into growth initiatives--it projects and programs that open new markets and drive new business rather than just maintain the status quo. Modern CIOs face a challenge: They must drive business growth and innovation, while keeping the business technology up and running. However, this isn't possible if the IT department spends 80% of its funds maintaining the status quo. CIOs must figure out how to shift their focus from maintenance to innovation, despite limited staff and budget. m-power helps CIOs break out of the 80/20 spending trap in two ways: 1. Saves time: m-power eliminates many of the tedious, time-consuming tasks that slow down IT departments, like coding, testing, and maintaining applications. Instead, it lets IT departments focus their time and energy into innovation and solving business problems. 2. Delivers constant enhancements: Averaging more than one major enhancement per month, m-power constantly evolves. It always puts the most current and up-to-date capabilities in the CIOs hands, giving them the tools they need to provide the business with cutting-edge solutions. Page 9

11 9. Future-proof their architecture As cloud-based services mature and new databases and platforms spring up, modern CIOs need fresh thinking about their application architecture. Modern application architecture requires a radically different approach than the application architecture of just 5 years ago. Modern application architecture must prepare a company for any scenario. It must be portable, secure, and database/platform independent. It must give a company freedom to deploy anywhere--on premise or in the cloud. Regardless of their current plans for the cloud, modern CIOs cannot ignore flexible application architecture. They must focus on creating future-proof applications that won t hold their company back. m-power insulates CIOs from application architecture concerns. As illustrated below, it builds multi-tenant, cloud-ready applications that prepare their company for both the present and the future. These open applications provide complete flexibility because they aren't tied to any platform or database. m-power provides freedom from application architecture concerns. Deploy the applications in-house, on the cloud, or use a combination of the two. m-power offers complete flexibility. Page 10

12 Executive Summary The modern CIO faces a unique, and ever-changing set of challenges. They must both address the current IT needs of the business and plan for future growth all while constantly adjusting that plan as technology evolves. What s more, as technology becomes an increasingly important aspect of business, the pressure on the CIO increases. CEOs now demand more from their IT departments, end users now demand more selfservice options, and consumer devices and applications now threaten data security. On top of that, technology now evolves so rapidly, delivering modern business solutions becomes near-impossible with the CIO s current resources. All in all, the modern-day CIO faces a unique set of strategic challenges unlike any other C-Level Executive. The modern CIO must: Balance agility with stability Break free from technical debt Give end users self-service options Provide a single experience across multiple platforms Balance data accessibility with security Bridge the skills gap Capitalize on expanding data Break out of the 80/20 spending trap Future-proof their architecture With relatively flat IT budgets, how can CIOs address these challenges and prepare their company for future trends? One option: More and more CIOs are now opting for web application development platforms like m- Power. Development platforms like m-power address many of the strategic issues CIOs face today, while positioning their company for future technological changes. What s more, m-power lets CIOs address multiple problems with a single tool, rather than purchasing separate solutions for every issue. Learn more If you d like to learn more about m-power, you can visit our website at To see a guided tour of m-power, simply complete this form. One of our product consultants will give you a personalized tour of m-power and answer any questions you may have.

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